LAURINBURG — With some businesses feeling the early pinch because of the coronavirus restrictions, Lowe’s is seeing the opposite results as Scotland County residents flock to the local store for home improvement and garden essentials.
“We have seen an increase in paint, outdoor supplies and seeds,” said Lee Bownan, manager at Lowe’s. “But mainly paint.”
Many businesses are closed in the area, which is allowing residents to work on their home and garden projects that may have been put off due to a lack of time.
“People are looking for something to keep them busy at home … and keeping their minds off the possibility of running out of food,” said Bownan.
Even with paint being the top seller right now at Lowe’s, many are also focusing on their spring gardens.
“I’m working on my home garden,” said Mitchell Peele of Laurel Hill. “This is our second year planting one.
“I’m retired, but I figured while everyone was out of work we could get started,” continued Peele. “I’m planning to plant some tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and probably some peppers.”
With spring officially here, many residents had future plans to travel with their families as well.
“I did have a cruise planned for next month,” said Peele. “We were going to fly to California and head to Cabo San Lucas, but I had to cancel it last week — but there will always be another one later on.”
Lowe’s continues to open at normal business hours, however they are closing at 8:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 p.m. on Sundays to allow time to clean the store.
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Ned’s business brisk
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Alongside the Lowe’s location, Ned’s Auto-Jewelry-Pawn has seen a spike in business due to the increase of interest in guns and ammunition.
“We are selling way more guns than normal,” said Micheal Lee, manager at Ned’s. “We’ve had many come in and inquire on ammo, but ammo is hard to find right now.
“We have plenty of .22 rounds however, your shot gun rounds and more popular rounds are hard to get your hands on,” he added.
Even with the influx of gun sales, there hasn’t been many items being brought in to be pawned.
“We haven’t seen much difference in pawning in the last few weeks … we definitely are not in pawn overload,” said Lee.
Ned’s is keeping its doors open to customers with no change in its hours at this time.
“At this point we are open and plan on staying open,” said Lee. “We have not been given any orders to close.”
Ned’s is open from 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays.
JJ Melton can be reached at [email protected].
